An Irish actor is to play the lead villain in a new major Hollywood production of “Gulliver’s Travels.”

Chris O’Dowd, a 28 year-old from Boyle County Roscommon who has already won much praise for his role in the successful BBC sitcom, “The IT Crowd,” will star alongside Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segal and Catherine Tate.

O’Dowd will play Edward, a villain who has been invented specially for the film and was not part of Irish writer Jonathan Swift’s classic 18th Century novel.

Jack Black is set to play the lead role in the movie and O’Dowd’s nemesis, as Lemuel Gulliver, the giant who finds himself among the tiny Lilliputian people he after getting shipwrecked. Jason Segel, who recently starred in “I Love You, Man,” will play one of the Lilliputians.

It’s been a busy year for O’Dowd, who has had roles in a number of U.K movies that are soon to be released, including“Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel”, “The Boat That Rocked” and “Hippie Hippie Shake.”

The IT Crowd, which was written by Irish writer Graham Linehan (who also wrote “Father Ted”), was something of a cult hit in the U.K. In it, O’Dowd plays a hapless computer support technician. Expect his new role to be a major departure – he has told the BBC that he has already started horse riding training in preparation for the film.